It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

The San Francisco Bay area never ceases to surprise me. We had to make a trip to down Burlingame and we stopped at Bayfront Park in Millbrae. It’s a small park that sits adjacent to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). It made for some great plane AND bird watching.

Bayfront Park with SFO and San Bruno Mountain in the background

I must admit something. I’m not a great bird watcher. Hmmmmm, that came out wrong. I’m a great birdwatcher. I’m NOT great at identifying the birds I see. Some are easy. Others, not so much. My problem is my hearing. In most cases, the identity of the bird can be narrowed down by the sounds it makes. My hearing isn’t always good enough to do that, so I’m forced to use visuals only. When I’m sure of the bird, I will identify. Otherwise, they are labelled shorebird. If anyone reading this can identify a bird or knows that I have one mislabeled, please speak up. 🙂

Black necked stiltShorebirdUnited Airlines on takeoff…and it’s off! On the far left in the distance, you can see the old eastern span of the Bay Bridge. It closed last week and the new span is now in useThe noisy jet engines couldn’t keep these ducks awakeDucks and youngsters on an outingKorean Air coming in for a landingShorebirdThis cormorant was off in the distance, but didn’t stay thereThe cormorant decided to sit on the rocks next to the trail to groom and dry off. Even the guy with the leaf blower didn’t scare it off.Sunbathing Cormorant

All of the above goes to show that you can find wildlife everywhere, even in the shadow of a very busy airport.

3 Replies to “It’s a bird! It’s a plane!”

Wonderful pictures! I love watching birds but I’m not good at identifying them either. I really like the picture of the sleeping ducks — I love the design their feathers make when their wings are closed like that.